Sunday, August 15, 2010

A Single Macbeth Reference in Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast. Dir. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Perf. Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, and Angela Lansbury. 1991. DVD. Walt Disney Video, 2002.
Toward the end of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the villainous Gaston (he about whom it is said that "No one's slick as Gaston; / No one's quick as Gaston; / No one's neck's as incredibly thick as Gaston's") rallies the villagers to attack the Beast.

In the big fight song ("The Mob Song"), he uses a line that Lady Macbeth used under similarly disheartening circumstances: "Screw your courage to the sticking point."

There is actually another Shakespeare reference in the "extended" DVD version--during the "Human Again" sequence, Belle is reading the end of "Romeo and Juliet" to the Beast. ("Never was a tale of more woe ...") He asks her to read it again, and she says for him to read it to her; at this point, it becomes clear he has trouble reading because, as he says, it has been a long time. Belle offers to help him, and he starts off at the beginning of the play ("Two households" -- he mispronounces two, and she gently corrects him).

That restored Romeo and Juliet reference actually makes sense, too, when you consider there is a "balcony" scene at the end of the film, with Beast climbing to Belle (just before he is stabbed).

Bardfilmis normally written as one word, though it can also be found under a search for "Bard Film Blog." Bardfilmis a Shakespeare blog (admittedly, one of many Shakespeare blogs), and it is dedicated to commentary on films (Shakespeare movies, The Shakespeare Movie, Shakespeare on television, Shakespeare at the cinema), plays, and other matter related to Shakespeare (allusions to Shakespeare in pop culture, quotes from Shakespeare in popular culture, quotations that come from Shakespeare, et cetera).

Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Shakespeare's works are from the following edition:

KJ is a professor of English and Literature at a small Christian liberal arts college. In addition to courses entitled “Shakespeare” and “Introduction to Shakespeare,” he teaches a course called “Shakespeare and Film.” Recently, he developed a course titled “Modern Shakespearean Fiction.” Shakespeare is also integrated into nearly all his other courses, including courses on the Literature of Food and the Literature of Humor. Additionally, he is the author of Bardfilm: The Shakespeare and Film Microblog. But you may have known that already.